Plato wrote in The Symposium that every human originally had a single head with two faces, four arms and four legs—essentially two people in one body. He explained that this worried the king of the gods, Zeus, because he thought that eventually humans would be more powerful than the gods and be able to overtake them. To combat this problem, he cut each human in half. This way, instead of humans attempting to overthrow the gods, they would spend their whole lives focused on finding the person to complete them: the infamous soul mate.
Some believe that when Zeus split humans, one was created a male and one was a female. This led to the idea that, in order to be soul mates, two people must be lovers. But this isn’t always true!
In a recent episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” Meredith told Cristina that she was her soul mate. Even before that, Candace Bushnell, author of the “Sex and the City” series, wrote: “Maybe our girlfriends are our soul mates and guys are just people to have fun with.”
My soul mate is my best friend. She’s been my best friend since the second grade. She’s defended me against schoolyard bullies and has been a vital part of my support system ever since. She’s been there for me through a tragic family death, a broken heart and all the most stressful points in my life without ever flinching.
No matter what happens, I know if I turn to my side she will always be right there. She knows what I’m capable of and forces me to follow my dreams, even when they intimidate me. She knows what boys will turn out to be duds in my life even before I do. She holds my actions to a higher standard then I would for myself in certain circumstances. She has insight into my feelings and beliefs that haven’t even occurred to me yet—she knows me better than I know myself. She is my soul mate because she just gets me. With a single look, she can understand my most intimate thoughts.
She’s stuck with me through tough times and then celebrated lavishly with me when I remember how terrific life really is. There’s absolutely no one who I have more fun with or laugh louder and harder with. I am fully convinced that no one will ever put up with my craziness like she has—and because of this, no one will ever understand me better.
So before you spend your whole life searching for your soul mate like Zeus intended, realize that you may already be lucky enough to have her.